Lance Palmer has spent time training with Jackson – Wink MMA and Team Elevation in recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still a committed member of Team Alpha Male.

The Sacramento gym has repeatedly been in the headlines over the last year or so, due to the departures of Duane Ludwig and TJ Dillashaw, who have developed rifts with TAM founder Urijah Faber. As a result of all the drama, anytime a TAM fighter is spotted training elsewhere, speculation begins as to whether they too have left the renowned team.

Well recently Palmer appeared on Full Contact Fighter Radio, in advance of his July 30th, WSOF 32 rematch with Alexandre Almeida. While discussing his preparation for the upcoming bout, and all the headlines tied to TAM, the former featherweight champ said this:

“I’m training at Team Alpha Male,” said Palmer, when asked about his training camp. “We’ve always been a team of guys that goes and trains and learns from the best coaches, and gets different looks from different teams. I went and trained at Team Elevation in Denver. I think I went two times…Then we went and trained over at Jackson’s and those guys are awesome. They always welcome us with open arms and we have a great relationship with a lot of the guys…”

“I think the tension is only between Duane Ludwig and Team Alpha Male honestly, and some of the guys now have tension with Dillashaw, ” added Palmer, who lost a tightly contested decision to Almeida in December. “Honestly for me, I’m always going to be friends with TJ. I don’t let that stuff get in the way with me.”

Recently TAM’s new head coach, Justin Buccholz, reported that longtime member Joseph Benavidez hasn’t been training with the squad. None of that, however will affect Palmer’s relationship with the flyweight contender.

“Even (Joseph) Benavidez not really being on our team anymore, just training at other places, I don’t even know if he’s officially left the team or still with us or whatever. He’s a guy that I lived with for two years and he kind of took me under his wing during a tough time…Joe’s a guy who I’ll never have an ill will towards no matter where he trains. I think some of that stuff is kind of petty, and I don’t really worry about it.”

WSOF 32 will be hosted by the Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington on July 30th. The main card will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network.

After defeating Chas Skelly at UFC 196 in March, which followed a training camp with the renowned Team Alpha Male, Darren Elkins has decided to move his life to California.

Recently the featherweight contender appeared on Full Contact Fighter Radio, and when asked about his current training situation, Elkins stated:

“…I’m still with Alpha Male. This is going to be my gym now,” the 31 year-old reported. “I talked to the guys and I’m part of the team, and I’m staying.”

Staying means that Elkins has elected to leave Indiana, and to relocate out west to the Sacramento region.

“I’m in the process of renting an apartment out here for now, and selling my house at home…staying out here full time.”

Although Team Alpha Male is home to world class fighters like Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, Joseph Benavidez, Lance Palmer and Cody Garbrandt among others, Elkins says making the decision to uproot his life was difficult.

“It didn’t easily happen,” said Elkins. “Obviously the thing was my family was really supportive, my wife was really supportive. This was something that she actually brought up and that’s why I’m out here. I had a couple of fights where I won, but I thought I didn’t fight very well. Then I lost a couple of them, and I didn’t fight well. I was actually thinking about retiring for a little while.”

“After I fought in Brazil, I fought Hacran Dias, and I thought maybe I just didn’t have it anymore,” added Elkins, while referring to his 2014, decision loss to Dias. “I couldn’t perform like I used to. I talked to my wife about it and she didn’t want me to do it. She was like, ‘you know what, you still have a lot in you. You need something different. You need a change’…She convinced me to get ahold of Chad Mendes, and come out here and start training with the team.”

Leaving Indiana, also means leaving behind the accomplished Duneland Vale Tudo team, who helped build Elkins into the fighter he is today. Elkins, however, decided he needed to train with a team that has more active fighters, and more competitors that are close to his weight.

“Having more coaches to help me with things is a huge plus too,” Elkins noted. “Even at some of the night classes at Duneland it was like three guys, two guys, and I just didn’t have the bodies I needed to really evolve my game, and keep getting better, and compete at the highest level.”

Elkins currently carries a record of 20-5, and the “The Damage” is ranked #11 in the UFC’s 145 division.

Not long after TJ Dillashaw confirmed that he is leaving Team Alpha Male to train with the Elevation Fight Team in Colorado, the UFC champ has also relayed that he will be compensated to do so.

On Tuesday, Dillashaw announced that he has decided to leave the Sacramento based TAM, and will be training with Elevation Fight Team, as well as Duane Ludwig in the Denver region. The announcement comes after the latter–who used to be the head coach for TAM–has publicly quarrelled with the team’s founder, Urijah Faber.

Dillashaw recently appeared on Stud Show Radio, and while doing so, the bantamweight star revealed the Elevation Fight Team will be compensating him to train with the Colorado camp (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“Now, Elevation Fight Team came to me and they want to pay me some good money to train with them,” Dillashaw said. “They’re offering to pay me to train, instead of me paying to train. This sport is growing so much that that’s the way I feel like it should be. We’re professional athletes. I feel like I got treated better in college wrestling. I had a physical therapist on hand at all times, no matter what, when I was in college. And that’s not where MMA is at yet.”

The 29 year-old champion also argued that any other fighter who was offered this deal would take it. The accomplished wrestler also said most of the members of TAM understand why he’s elected to leave the renowned camp.

Dillashaw is scheduled to fight former champ Dominick Cruz on January 17th.

]]>http://fcfighter.com/post/tj-dillashaw-reports-elevation-fight-team-is-paying-him-to-train-with-colorado-camp/feed0Report: TJ Dillashaw’s Next Camp to Take Place in Colorado, Not With Team Alpha Malehttp://fcfighter.com/post/report-tj-dillashaws-next-camp-to-take-place-in-colorado-not-with-team-alpha-male
http://fcfighter.com/post/report-tj-dillashaws-next-camp-to-take-place-in-colorado-not-with-team-alpha-male#commentsTue, 06 Oct 2015 22:28:51 +0000FCF Staffhttp://fcfighter.com/?p=55429By FCF Staff

Since Ludwig left the Sacramento based team, and returned to Colorado, the coach has exchanged words with Urijah Faber through the media. Dillashaw has continued to train with Ludwig, partime, despite the rift.

On Wednesday, it was reported by Combate,com that Dillashaw has decided to train with the Denver based Elevation Fight Team. Dillashaw will also continue to train with Ludwig in nearby Broomfield.

In a follow up statement to MMA Fighting.com, Dillashaw confirmed that for his January 17th bout with Dominick Cruz, he will indeed be training in Colorado. The bantamweight champ added that “This is not the end of being a part of the Team Alpha Male family, but a new chapter in my career.”

Dillashaw is coming off his second, stoppage win over Renan Barao in July.

It looks as though Martin Kampmann’s run as Team Alpha Male’s head coach is coming to an end, as according to a report, the UFC vet plans to leave the team by the end of 2015.

Kampmann was hired as the team’s new coach last fall, after Duane Ludwig vacated the position to open his own gym in Colorado. According to a report on the latest “UFC Tonight”, Kampmann and his family have decided to leave Sacramento where the team is based. The show’s correspondent, Ariel Helwani, says Urijah Faber told him that the team is not in a rush to hire a new coach.

The 33 year-old Kampmann elected to take a break from fighting following his stoppage loss to Carlos Condit in 2013, due to concerns over the number of concussion’s he’s incurred.

Although Cody Garbrandt has only competed in five professional fights, when the bantamweight makes his Octagon debut at UFC 182, he’ll be bringing years of experience into the cage.

Since Garbrandt turned pro in 2012, the 23 year-old has been followed by a top prospect narrative, due to an impressive record in amateur boxing and high school wrestling.

“I wrestled my whole life, I won state as a freshman and was a runner up as a sophomore, and due to some disciplinary actions and injuries during my senior year, I didn’t complete my high school wrestling career,” Garbrandt relayed on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio.

“I completed in boxing. I’m 32-1 as an amateur boxer, so I’ve had a very decorated amateur boxing experience…” furthered Garbrandt, who is set to face Marcus Brimage on Saturday night. “I’ve been competing my whole life and switched over to the cage at age 18.”

Despite his accomplishments in the ring, the fighter ultimately opted to focus on a career in MMA. Garbrandt made his amateur debut back in 2009, and proceeded to go 4-2, before transitioning into the professional ranks.

“Yeah, I definitely love boxing,” said Garbrandt. “Me and my Uncle would travel where I would fight Friday in Ohio, Saturday in Pennsylvania…so we were always going every weekend and boxing. It was fun going and fighting some of the top amateurs in that region.”

“I always had thoughts of going into pro-boxing, but MMA is so pure, and the closest thing to being primal that we have,” Garbrandt added. “I really switched gears and started focusing on MMA the past two years really, and it’s paid off, and now I’m where I want to be.”

Another key reason Garbrandt has been tapped as a leading prospect, is because he’s been honing his skills with the renowned Team Alpha Male. As any hardcore fans knows, the camp has helped mold numerous, amateur athletes into decorated, MMA fighters.

“I followed Team Alpha Male and Urijah Faber for a while, since I was younger, in junior high,” said Garbrandt, while discussing what led to his decision to leave Ohio last year and head for the famous, Sacramento gym. “In eighth grade I started to really watch him. He was the king of the featherweight division. I just watched him, watched his fights, his style, the way he lived his lifestyle, and I really gravitated towards him.”

“My buddy Lance Palmer is out here, and he was like ‘hey man, you gotta get out here, you gotta get out here’, and in between my pro debut, and getting ready for my second fight, I knew that if I wanted to take my talents to be the fighter I could be, I had to be out here with all these guys. Joseph Benavidez, TJ Dillashaw, (Chad) Mendes, I wanted to test myself and I wanted to see where I was at….I knew right then, the first day I stepped on the mats, this is where I wanted to be.”

UFC 182 will be hosted by the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vega, Nevada.

Although Graham Spencer has gone nearly two years now without fighting, it sounds like the featherweight could return to the Maximum Fighting Championship in 2015, as a more complete fighter than ever before.

Although Graham Spencer has gone nearly two years now without fighting, it sounds like the featherweight could return to the Maximum Fighting Championship in 2015, as a more complete fighter than ever before.

Since Spencer submitted Mukai Maromo in February, 2013, to take the MFC’s lightweight belt, the 30 year-old has vacated the title, undergone shoulder surgery, and worked hard to improve his skill set. So much so, the Nanaimo resident and electrician by trade, worked up north for multiple months so that he could secure the funds he needed, to pay for additional coaching.

“Well, first of all, injuries for me, are never a good thing,” Spencer said on Full Contact Fighter Radio recently, while discussing his time away from the ring and whether he’s improved his game. “Especially for me, because I was off, I wasn’t even training for a year. I was working up in Northern Alberta, there’s no training I could get up there, but I had to take an overall look at my game, see some areas that I need to work on.”

Spencer has become one of Canada’s leading featherweights by putting together a 10-1 record, which in large part, has come through his developed grappling and submission skills. Of Spencer’s 10 victories, five have come via tap-out.

Spencer (photo via maximumfighting.com)

“One of the things I needed to work on is my boxing,” said Spencer. “So, I’ve been putting in the extra time. I’ve got a personal boxing coach that I get one-on-one sessions with. I’m putting everything I have into this camp. Paying extra for boxing, paying extra for strength-and-conditioning sessions. I’m really putting everything into this camp.”

Putting “everything into” it includes another trip to the renowned Team Alpha Male camp in Sacramento, California, where Spencer has gone several times before to train. The fighter confirmed on FCF Radio that he will be returning to action, January 23rd at MFC 42, against an opponent who has yet to be announced.

“I’ve been down here for just over a month,” Spencer said. “I’m not fighting until closer to the end of January, so I’m just sort of getting into my camp, but I’ve been helping all the other guys get ready. Urijah’s (Faber) fighting this weekend, and there’s a few guys fighting at World Series next weekend in Sacramento, so I’ve been getting tons of good work in.”

Although Spencer is still listed as the MFC 145 pound champion, the fighter believes his next bout will not be a title fight.

“I wanted to fight in October, but it just wasn’t going to work out with me financially, and stuff like that,” added Spencer, who has also been training with Island Top Team coach and BJJ black belt Robert Biernacki. “So, that’s okay, because it gave me some extra time. I was able to come down to California for a little bit of extra training.”

After being hired as the head coach for the renowned Team Alpha Male, Martin Kampmann hasn’t hung up the gloves yet, but the vet doesn’t plan on fighting any time soon either.

The 32 year-old Kampmann hasn’t fought since August, 2013, when he was stopped by Carlos Condit at a UFC Fight Night card. Following the defeat the accomplished fighter said he was taking a break from fighting, due to concerns over the number of concussions he’s incurred.

While appearing on a recent episode of “The MMA Hour”, Kampmann relayed the following about his fighting career (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“I’m taking a break and focusing on coaching, stuff like that. I’m still signed with the UFC, I still have a contract with the UFC, but I just don’t have any fights lined up and I don’t plan on having any fights lined up in the future, either. I’m focusing on coaching right now. I still love fighting so I’ll never say never, but I can’t see myself fighting anytime in the future right now.”

The Danish fighter is 3-2 in his last 5 fights, and Kampmann has scored wins over Jake Ellenberger, Thiago Alves and Rick Story during that time. His other defeat came via KO to Johny Hendricks.

Kampmann will replace fellow UFC vet Duane Ludwig, who has left the Sacramento based to open a gym in his native Colorado.

The 32 year-old Kampmann hasn’t fought since August, 2013, when he was stopped by Carlos Condit. Since the defeat the welterweight has said he wanted to focus more on coaching for the time being, as a result of incurring several concussions during his career.

Although Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male have consistently heaped praise on Duane Ludwig, and what he did for the renowned team, the bantamweight contender has admitted he had some minor issues with the departing head coach.… Read More

]]>

Faber

By FCF Staff

Although Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male have consistently heaped praise on Duane Ludwig, and what he did for the renowned team, the bantamweight contender has admitted he had some minor issues with the departing head coach.

Recently the Sacramento team announced that Ludwig has decided to step down as head coach, as the retired fighter has decided to open a new gym in his native Colorado. Faber recently appeared on the latest edition of “The MMA Hour”, and while discussing Ludwig’s departure, he relayed the change will be a “breath of fresh air.”

While Faber credited Ludwig for the job that he did with the team, he added that the two didn’t always see eye-to-eye on certain business matters (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“So there was some friction here and there, but it was just very short-lived and kind of confusing, to be honest,” said Faber, who also noted that things between him and Ludwig got better after the latter announced he was leaving. “Kind of friction, but then, like, not friction, so kind of up and down.”

The 35 year-old fighter, who will fight Alex Caceres on July 5th, also relayed that Martin Kampmann will be temporarily assuming a coaching role with the team. No decision on a permanent coach, however, has been made yet.

Sacramento’s renowned Team Alpha Male has yet to find a replacement for departing head coach Duane Ludwig, and according to a new report, one of the leading candidates is UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann.

Sacramento’s renowned Team Alpha Male has yet to find a replacement for departing head coach Duane Ludwig, and according to a new report, one of the leading candidates is UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann.

Although Kampmann has not officially hung up the gloves, the veteran has yet to commit to another fight, since he was stopped by Carlos Condit last August. In addition, the Danish fighter has expressed an interest in coaching in recent months.

In the latest edition of “UFC Tonight”, correspondent Ariel Helwani reported that Kampmann has met with Team Alpha Male, after relaying his interest in the coaching position to Urijah Faber. The 32 year-old has apparently impressed the team considerably, however, a couple of other candidates are scheduled to be interviewed.

Prior to his loss to Condit, Kampmann (20-7) was knocked out by reigning champ Johny Hendricks, which ended the Las Vegas based fighter’s three fight win streak.

Graham Spencer won’t be stepping into the Maximum Fighting Championship’s ring until after this summer, but when the featherweight champ books his next bout, Team Alpha Male will help him prepare.

Spencer, who continues to recover from shoulder surgery he underwent last year, recently told Full Contact Fighter that he hopes to fight again in October. While the 10-1 fighter still has plenty of training options in his hometown of Nanaimo, at least some of his camp will be spent in Sacramento, California.

“I might do a little bit shorter this camp just for financial reasons. I might just go for a month or so,” Spencer relayed on Full Contact Fighter Radio recently, when asked if he plans to return to Team Alpha Male for his next training camp. “Just go get some good sparring in before my fight, but I’ve got some good, young guys up here that are really hungry and talented guys that I can train with and get good sparring with…”

Spencer became one of Canada’s top featherweights by developing his skills with Impact MMA, and now Nanaimo is also home to BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki.

“Yup, Impact (MMA) and there’s a new BJJ black belt who moved to town,” furthered Spencer, when asked if he will continue to train with the Nanaimo’s Impact MMA team. “He used to train at American Top Team, and he started a new jiu-jitsu club, Island Top Team, and there’s some really good guys there. He’s (Biernacki) an awesome instructor.”

“He’s done MMA before; he’s trained a bunch but only had the one fight, but he’s a really good coach and he’s been helping me out a lot, especially when I’ve been injured and haven’t been able to go 100%,” Spencer furthered about Biernacki, who received his black belt from UFC vet Charles McCarthy. “We’ve been working a lot on technique and that kind of stuff. I’ve actually been training in the gi for the first time in the last few months.”

Spencer (photo via reignarmy.com)

When Spencer returns to Team Alpha Male, the gym’s head coach will no longer be Duane Ludwig, who recently announced he’s returning to his native Colorado. Ludwig’s decision to leave the squad surprised many throughout the MMA world, due to the success Team Alpha Male has enjoyed under the renowned striker’s guidance.

“I actually helped Duane move into his house when he first got to Sacramento,” noted Spencer, who hasn’t fought since last February, when he submitted Mukai Maromo to become the MFC lightweight champion. “I was little surprised; you know, he’s been doing really well there, but at the same time he’s been doing tons of seminars and building his own brand.”

“Now would probably be the ideal time for him to capitalize on that,” added Spencer, who never had any intention of remaining at 155, and vacated the lightweight title last year. “If he wants to go out on his own, build his own brand, and I know he really wanted to move back to Colorado eventually, so he might as well do it when he’s hot.”

You can read more about Spencer’s shoulder injury and ongoing recovery by heading here.

The MFC’s next card is scheduled for May 9th in Edmonton, Alberta, and will feature Tom Gallicchio versus Kurt Southern to determine the promotion’s lightweight champion.

Despite the well documented success Team Alpha Male has had since it brought on Duane Ludgwig as the team’s head coach, according to multiple reports, the parties have decided to split ways.

Ludwig has reportedly decided to open his own gym in his native Colorado, and as a a result, the noted striker will no longer be coaching the Sacramento based team. After news of the split was reported by the “UFC Tonight” program, Ludwig told MMA Junkie.com that he had no intention of leaving before any Team Alpha Male member’s upcoming training camp concluded.

“UFC Tonight” is reporting that Ludwig will remain on as head coach with the team through May 24th. The squad’s leader, UFC bantamweight contender Urijah Faber, also mentioned names like Mark Beecher, Mark Hominick, Robert Follis and Dan Hardy as possible replacements.